Returning Hire Purchase Car?

Mr_Jammy

How do I go about returning a car i bought on finance. The half way payment is in August but im desperate to get rid of it (Car is forever breaking down and customer care lets me down everytime). How do i word a letter telling them I would like them to pick it up at the first avaliable date in August?.

Is there a way they would pick it up earlyer without having to pay the remaining payments?

Cheers, Sy

myrnahaz

I think it all depends on what the value of the car is at the moment compared with the outstanding HP on the car - if you own a higher proportion to the amount you owe, then you may not have to pay any more; Ring the HP people and ask their advice. OR - try to get the HP company to help you sort the car out. I once had problems with a car I'd bought on HP, so I rang trading standards for advice and they said that the car was actually owned by the HP company and that I should write to them saying something like 'X garage won't fix YOUR car - will you intervene, please?' Trading standards even dictated the letter for me to write to HP company. The HP Co took over and arranged for the car to be sorted.

chant1l

The actual terms will be found on the back of your contract, a duplicate of which can be forwarded to you by the finance company.
The relevant section relates to the rights of halves and thirds.
Pay half of the total outstanding finance on the car and as long as you have serviced it to within manufacturers limits (usually 10% more than outlined in the service manual) you can drop it off at the garage and leave it. This is enshrined in the HP document you will have signed in the tiny print.
Incidentally should you broach this subject with the finance company you may find the dealers service suddenly becomes ever so efficient and friendly......

Herb

Do you mean the the true half way payment - which is 50% of the 'total amount payable' shown on the front page of your finance agreement? (T A P is the cost of the car plus interest)

Or do you mean the guaranteed purchase price that the dealer offered?(often referred to as the final half - but often less)

If its the second one you may already have paid half of the total amount payable and could therefore surrender the car to the finance company today (not the dealer)

Either way don't stress about wording any letter - phone the finance company - they will want to limit exposure and may decide to take car today - if it suits them - or as chant1l says they may be able to squeeze the dealer to help more.

In a former life as a car dealer I have replaced cars after a call from the finance company - sometimes with a bit of financial help from them - after all they also have a duty to ensure car is 'of merchantable quality'.

If you return the car to them because you have paid more than half of the TAP then get a written assurance that this will not affect your credit rating in any way- They have been known to register cars returned this way as a terminated account (because it is), it would show on your credit history as such - and that is unfair.

Herb

Sorry if this is a daft question but have checked that the value is less than the settlement figure?

You should be due a rebate of interest for settling early and this will mean you will owe less than the remaining number of payments.

When you are very close to paying half of the 'total amount payable' it is not common that the car is worth less than the settlement figure. (Depending on the age of the car, deposit and the term of the loan)